Tsonga defeats Nadal, advances to semis of ATP World Tour Finals

KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH: ASSOCIATED PRESS
BIG WIN: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga savors the moment after upsetting Rafael Nadal at the ATP World Tour Finals in London on Thursday.

KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH: ASSOCIATED PRESS
BIG WIN: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga...

LONDON - Whatever Rafael Nadal tried to throw at Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Thursday, it seemed the Frenchman was always one step ahead of him.

Now Nadal is hoping he hasn't lost his passion for the game.

Tsonga qualified for the semifinals of the ATP World Tour Finals at the expense of Nadal, beating the second-ranked Spaniard 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-3 in a decisive round-robin match to join Roger Federer in the last four in the season-ending tournament.

"I was little bit less passionate for the game probably, because I was a little bit more tired than usual," Nadal said.

Against Tsonga these days, you need to be.

The tall Frenchman used his powerful groundstrokes to dictate play against Nadal, and tried to speed rallies by using a serve-and-volley approach the Spaniard struggled to counter.

"Jo knows where I hit every ball during the point," Nadal said. "I didn't have a surprise shot during all the match."

Nadal plans to play in the Davis Cup final against Argentina in December

But he acknowledged the end of the year "wasn't easy for me." Nadal won his sixth French Open title in May but saw himself bested by Djokovic, who won the other three Grand Slam titles and took over the No. 1 ranking.

Tsonga improved to 2-1 and Nadal fell to 1-2 in Group B. It is the first time Tsonga has reached the semifinals of the event; Nadal missed out for the second time in five appearances.

Hard-fought battle

In perhaps the hardest-fought match of the tournament, Tsonga broke twice in the third set to go up 5-2. But he faltered in the next game, double-faulting three times to give Nadal renewed hope, only to bounce back and break the Spaniard to love. He sealed the win with a hard forehand winner.

"Tonight I just played, well, amazing tennis," Tsonga said. "I was really aggressive... I put a lot of pressure on him today."

Federer beat Mardy Fish 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 earlier to finish the group stage 3-0. David Ferrer also qualified for the semifinals from Group A, with top-ranked Novak Djokovic and Tomas Berdych in contention for the last spot going into the final group matches Friday.